Complements are warm and substitutes are competent: the effect of recommendation type on focal product evaluation

PurposePrevious research about online recommendation systems has focused largely on their impact on customers' purchase decisions regarding the products being recommended, but it has mostly ignored how they may affect focal product evaluation. This research aimed to examine the influence of recommendation type (i.e. substitute-based vs complement-based) on focal product evaluation dependent on the brand image (i.e. warm vs competent).Design/methodology/approachFour laboratory experiments were conducted. Study 1 adopted an implicit association task. Studies 2 and 3 used a 2 (image: warmth vs competence) × 2 (product display: complements vs substitutes) between-subjects experimental design. Study 4 used a 2 (decision stage) × 2 (image) × 2 (product display) × continuous (need for cognition) between-subjects design.FindingsStudy 1 demonstrated a general “complementation (competition)—warmth (competence)” association. Studies 2 and 3 found that when a focal product had a warm (competent) image, complement-based (substitute-based) recommendations led customers to evaluate it more favorably than substitute-based (complement-based) recommendations. Study 3 further demonstrated that processing fluency mediates the above effect. Study 4 showed that this effect relies on heuristic processing and disappears for those who are in the screening stage or have a high need for cognition.Originality/valueTheoretically, this research extends the understanding of the stereotype content model of focal product brand image, the feelings-as-information process, and moderating roles of processing stage and need for cognition in e-commerce contexts. Practically, the findings provide online retailers a guideline for customizing their recommendation systems.

Improving the touchscreen-based food approach-avoidance task: remediated block-order effects and initial findings regarding validity

Approach biases to foods may explain why food consumption often diverges from deliberate dietary intentions. Yet, the assessment of behavioural biases with the approach-avoidance tasks (AAT) is often unreliable and validity is partially unclear. The present study continues a series of studies that develop a task based on naturalistic approach and avoidance movements on a touchscreen (hand-AAT). In the hand-AAT, participants are instructed to respond based on the food/non-food distinction, thereby ensuring attention to the stimuli. Yet, this implies the use of instruction switches (i.e., ‘approach food – avoid objects’ to ‘avoid food – approach objects’), which introduce order effects. The present study increased the number of instruction switches to potentially minimize order effects, and re-examined reliability. We additionally included the implicit association task (IAT) and several self-reported eating behaviours to investigate the task’s validity. Results replicated the presence of reliable approach biases to foods irrespective of instruction order. Evidence for validity, however, was mixed: biases correlated positively with external eating, increase in food craving and aggregated image valence ratings but not with desire to eat ratings of the individual images considered within participants or the IAT. We conclude that the hand-AAT can reliably assess approach biases to foods that are relevant to self-reported eating patterns.

Improving the touchscreen-based food approach-avoidance task: remediated block-order effects and initial findings regarding validity

Approach biases to foods may explain why food consumption often diverges from deliberate dietary intentions. Yet, the assessment of behavioural biases with the approach-avoidance tasks (AAT) is often unreliable and validity is partially unclear. The present study continues a series of studies that develop a task based on naturalistic approach and avoidance movements on a touchscreen (hand-AAT). In the hand-AAT, participants are instructed to respond based on the food/non-food distinction, thereby ensuring attention to the stimuli. Yet, this implies the use of instruction switches (i.e., ‘approach food – avoid objects’ to ‘avoid food – approach objects’), which introduce order effects. The present study increased the number of instruction switches to potentially minimize order effects, and re-examined reliability. We additionally included the implicit association task (IAT) and several self-reported eating behaviours to investigate the task’s validity. Results replicated the presence of reliable approach biases to foods irrespective of instruction order. Evidence for validity, however, was mixed: biases correlated positively with external eating, increase in food craving and aggregated image valence ratings but not with desire to eat ratings of the individual images considered within participants or the IAT. We conclude that the hand-AAT can reliably assess approach biases to foods that are relevant to self-reported eating patterns.

Improving the touchscreen-based food approach-avoidance task: remediated block-order effects and initial findings regarding validity

Approach biases to foods may explain why food consumption often diverges from deliberate dietary intentions. When cognitive resources are depleted, implicit responses may contribute to overeating and overweight. Yet, the assessment of behavioural biases with the approach-avoidance tasks (AAT) is often unreliable. We previously addressed methodological limitations of the AAT by employing naturalistic approach and avoidance movements on a touchscreen (hand-AAT) and instructing participants to respond based on the food/non-food distinction. In the consistent block, participants were instructed to approach food and avoid objects while in the inconsistent block, participants were instructed to avoid foods and approach objects. Biases were highly reliable but affected by the order in which participants received the two task blocks. In the current study, we aimed to resolve the block order effects by increasing the number of blocks from two to six and validate the hand-AAT with the implicit association task (IAT) and self-reported eating behaviours. We replicated the presence of reliable approach biases to foods and further showed that these were not affected by block order. Evidence for validity was mixed: biases correlated positively with external eating, food craving and aggregated image valence ratings but not with within-participants differences in desire to eat ratings of the images or the IAT. We conclude that hand-AAT can reliably assess approach biases to foods that are relevant to self-reported eating patterns and were not probably confounded by block-order effects.

Examining implicit beliefs in a replication attempt of a time-reversed priming task

Background: Psi research is a controversial area of science that examines telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, and psychokinesis (mind over matter). Central to the debate over the existence of psi is of whether independent investigators can replicate reportedly successful psi experiments. One important variable involves the beliefs of experimenters and participants. A preregistered experiment is presented that sought to replicate and extend previously published parapsychology experiments suggestive of precognition by examining implicit beliefs. Methods: On each trial of the standard (non-psi) priming task, a pleasant or unpleasant word (the "prime") is briefly shown on computer screen, followed immediately by a pleasant or unpleasant picture. Trials on which the image and the priming word have different valences are termed “Incongruent”; trials on which the picture and the priming word share a common valence are termed “Congruent”. Participants in such experiments typically respond more slowly on Incongruent trials than on Congruent trials. In this "time-reversed" psi version of the experiment, the presumed cause-effect sequence is reversed so that the prime is not flashed until after the participant has already recorded his or her judgment. The experimental hypothesis remains the same: response times will be longer on trials with Incongruent prime/picture pairs than on trials with Congruent prime/picture pairs. Additionally, the study assesses expectations of success on the psi task of 32 experimenters—each testing 12 participants—using self-report questionnaires and the Implicit Association Task (IAT). Results: A significant correlation was found between the Implicit Association Test (IAT) effect and the participants’ reported beliefs in psi, with the effect in the direction opposite to the hypothesized correlation. Conclusions: This study offers an innovative approach to the role of beliefs in psi in a precognition study and speaks to the challenges of replication in controversial science.

Examining implicit beliefs in a replication attempt of a time-reversed priming task

Background: Psi research is a controversial area of science that examines telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, and psychokinesis (mind over matter). Central to the debate over the existence of psi is of whether independent investigators can replicate reportedly successful psi experiments. One important variable involves the beliefs of experimenters and participants. A preregistered experiment is presented that sought to replicate and extend previously published parapsychology experiments suggestive of precognition by examining implicit beliefs. Methods: On each trial of the standard (non-psi) priming task, a pleasant or unpleasant word (the "prime") is briefly shown on computer screen, followed immediately by a pleasant or unpleasant picture. Trials on which the image and the priming word have different valences are termed “Incongruent”; trials on which the picture and the priming word share a common valence are termed “Congruent”. Participants in such experiments typically respond more slowly on Incongruent trials than on Congruent trials. In this "time-reversed" psi version of the experiment, the presumed cause-effect sequence is reversed so that the prime is not flashed until after the participant has already recorded his or her judgment. The experimental hypothesis remains the same: response times will be longer on trials with Incongruent prime/picture pairs than on trials with Congruent prime/picture pairs. Additionally, the study assesses expectations of success on the psi task of 32 experimenters—each testing 12 participants—using self-report questionnaires and the Implicit Association Task (IAT). Results: A significant correlation was found between the Implicit Association Test (IAT) effect and the participants’ reported beliefs in psi, with the effect in the direction opposite to the hypothesized correlation. Conclusions: This study offers an innovative approach to the role of beliefs in psi in a precognition study and speaks to the challenges of replication in controversial science.

The Social Meaning of Contextualized Sibilant Alternations in Berlin German

In Berlin, the pronunciation of /ç/ as [ɕ] is associated with the multi-ethnic youth variety (Kiezdeutsch). This alternation is also known to be produced by French learners of German. While listeners form socio-cultural interpretations upon hearing language input, the associations differ depending on the listeners’ biases and stereotypes toward speakers or groups. Here, the contrast of interest concerns two speaker groups using the [ç]–[ɕ] alternation: multi-ethnic adolescents from Berlin neighborhoods carrying low social prestige in mainstream German society and French learners of German supposedly having higher cultural prestige. To understand the strength of associations between phonetic alternations and social attributes, we ran an Implicit Association Task with 131 participants (three groups varying in age and ethnic background (mono- vs. multi-ethnic German) using auditory and written stimuli. In experiment 1, participants categorized written words as having a positive (good) or negative (bad) valence and auditory stimuli containing pronunciation variations of /ç/ as canonical [ç] (labeled Hochdeutsch [a term used in Germany for Standard German]) or non-canonical [ɕ] (labeled Kiezdeutsch). In experiment 2, identical auditory stimuli were used but the label Kiezdeutsch was changed to French Accent. Results show faster reaction times when negative categories and non-canonical pronunciations or positive categories and canonical pronunciations were mapped to the same response key, indicating a tight association between value judgments and concept categories. Older German listeners (OMO) match a supposed Kiezdeutsch accent more readily with negatively connotated words compared to a supposed French accent, while younger German listeners (YMO) seem to be indifferent toward this variation. Young multi-ethnic listeners (YMU), however, seem to associate negative concepts more strongly with a supposed French accent compared to Kiezdeutsch. These results demonstrate how social and cultural contextualization influences language interpretation and evaluation. We interpret our findings as a loss of cultural prestige of French speakers for the YMO group compared to the OMO group: younger urban listeners do not react differently to these contextual primes. YMU listeners, however, show a positive bias toward their in-group. Our results point to implicit listener attitudes, beliefs, stereotypes and shared world knowledge as significant factors in culturally- and socially situated language processing.

Cathodal tDCS & Implicit Associations

Implicit associations can interfere with cognitive operations and behavioural decisions without direct intention. Enhancement of neural activity with anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) was proposed to reduce implicit associations by means of improved cognitive control. However, the notion of a direct inhibition of implicit associations by cathodal tDCS has not yet been addressed. Here, we introduce a cathodal tDCS configuration with extracephalic return electrode to reduce implicit associations. Based on previous studies on implicit spatial-numerical associations, we generalize the stimulation rationale by demonstrating efficacy in the standardized implicit association task (IAT). In this double-classification task, insect vs. flower pictures and negative vs. positive words are mapped together onto two shared response keys with crossed response assignments in separate blocks. Responses were faster when insect + negative and flower + positive stimuli required the same answer (IAT effect). Most critically, the IAT effect was reduced during 1 mA prefrontal cathodal tDCS as compared to sham stimulation. Results are consistent with the proposed stimulation rationale, with our previous observations, and complementary to previous attempts to modulate IAT effects with (medial) prefrontal anodal tDCS configurations. Limited by the validity of the IAT in general, results suggest transferability to other implicit biases.